Okay this is reaching a little but Sandy took her best shot and, well we are ready to show her that she did not win by any means. Yes, she took the lives of many, tore apart out homes, ripped up our trees, damaged the infrastructure that we count on to keep our daily lives civilized but she has not won.

I have been around and I can attest to the fact that people are rebuilding their lives slowly but surely. Towns are beginning to bounce back even if mortgage companies are withholding our checks for reasons that my simple mind can not comprehend. With that said I have to attest to one big and I mean big account of volunteerism that has been going on all around us.

I was working on getting IBSP back to some sort of normalcy this weekend and realized that we had over 150 volunteers at the park alone. When I left the park Saturday there were people in droves helping out at Midway Beach as well as Seaside Park and the Heights. With all the help we are experiencing along the beaches the work is ahead of schedule for the most part.

IBSP, for those that have not experienced being back on the sand is defiantly ahead of schedule. This weekend we laid approximately 1000 Christmas trees for a new dune base as most dunes that were in excess of 20' are no longer there. Tons of debris still has to be removed by the state before we are allowed to be let back on to fish.

Some good news here is that it might be a possibility that IBSP will be open for fishing this week and you will be allowed to fish from Gillkins south to Ocean Beach Area 1. Anything north or south is still being cleared and not ready for the public. By debris I am talking about telephone pole size logs washed up, refrigerators, washers, dryers you name it its out there. We were told that a dock from down in Holgate was even washed up. One of the hardest hit portions of the park was the pocket. Not many are allowed to venture that far south yet. To tell you the truth I would not want to drive my POV down there yet.

Once we get the okay than it will be with use caution as who knows what is lying just below the surface of the sand.

But I have to tell you the water quality looked awesome. Nice and green as you can look right threw the waves breaking over some huge sand bars out about 75 to 100 yards. Yes and there is one hell of a trough in between the beach and the bar. I am so looking forward to get back to that part of my life I miss so dearly. So Sandy you might of knocked us down for a while but we are not out of the game.

Our fishery will come back stronger that ever, just give it time. I am hearing that the winter over bass are biting up around Deal off the jetties. If you are thinking about going I heard the choice of bait are bucktails in an orange color as there are crabs all over that area.

If you are looking for a place to volunteer they are not too hard to find just call up the town you wish to volunteer your time in and they will give you names of groups you can sigh up for. If you would like to help out the New Jersey Beach Buggie Association jump onto their web site as we will be going back out to IBSP on Feb 2nd and Feb 16th to do more cleanup.

Well I guess that is it for now. Hope to see some of you out on the beaches cleaning up what Sandy has thrown at us.

Okay this thread has not seen traffic in a long time. All you suds rats out there sign in as I am sure we have a lot of guys that either are getting their gear ready for the spring run or are getting ready to start the process.

Will you be doing your own maintenance or will you be taking your gear to a shop for that Spring tuneup?

I know for myself I will be going the self indulgence route. I have all my oils and greases ready plus if there are any rough spots on the gears I have been polishing them out and it has been working out great. Everything seems to glide much smoother.

I use a tool similar to a Dermal tool with a very fine polishing compound used for polishing gold. You have to be careful not to polish too much as it will affect the tolerances and could make the reel sloppy.

Lets hear form you techies out there that like to do things yourself. It just might be a good thing to share your tips with the rest of us surf rats.

All my gear is laying on my "fishing work bench" exactly where I dumped it all when I cleaned out the truck the day after Sandy. Plus is all has a layer of sawdust on it from other projects that have been going on in the shop.

First of all Chris, how are you feeling? Dust especially sawdust can be gotten rid of easily bring the stuff over and we will blast it with the air compressor. If you need help getting your stuff ready just give a call and I will gladly help.

I'm just lazy. I walk past it all the time and just never get to it. I'll get done when the weather starts to break.

All the reels were cleaned and lubed shortly before the storm, they're good. Since the fall run never happened, most of the metals and other plugs never got used after the last cleaning. I just have to sort the rigs and plugs that are tangled up from fishing Sept & Oct.

I'm changing up my style of fishing going forward. Less hard surf, big plugs and big gear. No more jetty hopping. Already sold off some of that stuff. So I have to add a couple more reels and rods to the arsenal to suit my new style. Need another reel for fishing bait (going for a baitfunner this time) and another 8 or 9ft rod for small artificial.

Welcome to the club... My jetty days have been over years ago. I feel just as able to catch fish as the jetty hoppers, maybe just not as frequent. This year will be a challenge to find the cuts and breaks but not impossible.

I might even try more fly fishing this year as well. Which for me would be to bring it out when there is a full blown blitz going on if you know what I mean.

I picked up some Lightning Lube last year for the conventional reel, maybe this year I will try it out as I was told that it will make the lures sing off the reel... Grumpy's term... LOL

I know it has been a while since this thread has been used so I thought I would post some of the stuff I am hearing and some of my personal observations.

First the blow fish are still in the surf as are the Kingfish. Small hooks and small bait. I tried the fish bites and I still like the small chunks of fresh clam better. The fish bites stay on longer but I find that the fresh clam out preforms them by a long shot.

Stripers are still here but not in any abundance right now. All that have been caught are for the most part being caught on clams.

The blues are not to be seen but there are reports that they are making their way closer to the shore. I am not to sure we will see them till the fall. It would be nice but we will just have to wait and see.

If you are looking for Fluke well they are around in the surf but you have to really have to work for them. Cast into the first trough and bounce a bucktail tipped with Gulp swimming mullet and a teaser about 8 to 10 inches above the jig.

If you are hunting the bay try the BB and BI buoys as they are still the best producers down this way.

The sedges are producing a big variety of fish so if you are going kayaking make sure to bring a pole along and try your luck. There is everything from weakefish to stripers back there including blues and if your into fiting Rays they are back there as well.

I am hearing grumblings that the Brown Sharks should be in this coming week so I would make it a point to get out there in the evening and try your luck. Bunker chunks on a wire leader 10/0 circle hook should do the trick. Just be patient and you should have a blast.

If your into crabbing well this is not so much out of the suds department but the bay is hot and the morning catch has been the best. I have to warn you though the spots are fewer this year to catch from due to Sandy and the municipalities now charging to gain access to piers. There are still a few free ones but like I said get there early. The catch is mainly a morning thing where catching 41/2 to 6' crabs in the 3 to 4 dozen range is starting to become the norm.

So, the dock at the Docksider is open now and so are the piers in SSP.

Good try. You can't fault you for not giving up. We were going in the morning and trying to catch whatever tide change there was. But for a while now the tide changes were not that significant. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Even the waves, like today 1 - 2 feet thats if up here.

We were not hitting them in any great numbers just here and there. But one thing I did find that the smaller hook was catching a lot more than the larger ones. I am down to a 2/0 and Iam catching.

I am using a Hi/Lo rig and did not need any more than 3oz to hold bottom. That tells me that there is no lateral current at all. The water is clear but now moving. We need a good storm to rip through and churn things up a bit. Hopefully on Sat nite.

Agree 100% we had absolutely no lateral drift and were using 3oz to hold May just have well been using an anchor. No chance for the business end to cover any ground.

Did catch fish this week tho. Grabbed a private charter out of Barnegate. Temps were up in the ocean and the fluking/sea bassing was great. My 13yrold caught the winner 5.5lb fluke. Now I have to clean his room and wash his bike. Shoulda bet him cash.